


of heaters and cold nights

by dreamuniverse



Series: winter skies, you and i [1]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Cuddling, Fluff, Hakaze Kaoru is in denial, M/M, UNDEAD is mentioned, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28174245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamuniverse/pseuds/dreamuniverse
Summary: Hakaze Kaoru found himself stuck at school after a late-night UNDEAD practice and is more than surprised to find his junior in the Marine Bio Club Room at such an ungodly hour. Thus, the two end up spending the night at school together and Kaoru finds himself facing various problems within the span of one night.
Relationships: Hakaze Kaoru/Kanzaki Souma, Oogami Kouga/Sakuma Rei (mentioned) - Relationship
Series: winter skies, you and i [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064021
Kudos: 23





	of heaters and cold nights

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this while trying to sleep one day. It's my first KaoSou or just generally Ensemble Stars! work, so I apologize if there are any wonky characterizations or awkward writing! I just wanted to write these boys.

It was _freezing_. Oh, and it was 11pm at night. Kaoru grimaces as a gust of cold wind hits him as he walks through Yumenosaki Academy’s hallways. Now you may ask, what on earth is he doing at school on such an ungodly hour? Well, to answer that, Rei’s nocturnality had once again led to one of UNDEAD’s practice sessions going on hours into the night. Don’t get him wrong, Kaoru enjoys being a part of the unit as much as the next person, but sometimes that so-called vampire’s antics were incomprehensible. Honestly, not everyone is strong enough to train for hours on end at such ungodly hours. The only reason Kaoru hasn’t collapsed by now is thanks to him coming to practices more often--his body had adjusted to it eventually. Even so, Kaoru could feel his body screaming at him to just go rest. 

Now, that was where his problem started. You see, not only was it very late at night and an inappropriate time to be at school, it was also winter and to top it off, it had started snowing heavily the moment practice ended. Kaoru doesn’t particularly fancy the idea of going home at the risk of being turned into a human popsicle. Adonis had left to go home without much thought, insisting that he’ll be fine since he’s strong enough. Though, if Kaoru remembers correctly, Adonis came from the Middle East, and he’s pretty sure those regions are mainly scorching hot, so he doubts how well Adonis can handle lower temperatures. Nevertheless, he hopes that ridiculously strong underclassman of his won’t turn into a snowman tomorrow. Wan-chan, no, Koga, on the other hand, had been basically abducted by Sakuma the moment practice ended. Kaoru doesn’t want to know any further than that. 

Considering the fact that he was most definitely going to spend the night at school, he had to find somewhere to sleep, at least. The Light Music Clubroom, despite most likely having a heater, was out of the question, as he was pretty sure Rei and Koga were there anyways. It would feel wrong to just barge into another random clubroom and seek refuge there, so that’s a no-go too. And so, his feet led him to the Marine Bio Clubroom. He’d decided that it probably wouldn’t be an ideal place to sleep in, but despite that, he found himself pushing open the door to the room, and was more than surprised to be greeted by the sound of a katana being unsheathed. 

Now, Kaoru wasn’t sure if he should be startled by how Souma was attempting to kill him as soon as he’d stepped in, or rather by the fact that Souma was still at school in the first place. 

“Disgrace, how dare you step foot into this room so casually, after never attending club activities,” the younger of the two spoke with a threatening tone.

“Woah, easy there. Just what are you doing here?” Kaoru laughed nervously, as he avoided the blade in front of him, “And maybe lower that blade? I don’t want to die yet, you know.” 

“What an absurd question. I am simply doing club activities as usual. But perhaps, someone who doesn’t attend club activities wouldn’t understand that,” Souma frowned, reluctantly lowering his katana before putting it back into its sheath. 

“Club activities?” it was Kaoru’s turn to frown, “At this time? Wait, Souma-kyun, you do realize what time it is, right?”

“Time? I haven’t kept track of it, but I’m pretty sure I’ve only been here for around two hours, so I would say it’s probably some time in the afternoon.” 

Had talking and acting in such an old-fashioned manner disrupted Souma’s sense of time? Afternoon? Just how long has the long-haired boy been in the club room cluelessly taking care of the creatures, Kaoru wondered. Then again, the room did have large curtains covering the windows, so it would be difficult to know the time. 

“Souma-kyun, listen,” Kaoru sighed, “It’s not afternoon. It’s 11 at night.”

“What do you mean?” Souma raised an eyebrow, as he walked towards the windows, “Surely you have gone insane, there is no way that it’s--Oh.” 

Upon opening the curtains, Souma just stood there, dumbfounded. He could only stare at the snow coming down and piling up on the ground, and then back at the dark sky above. The disgrace _was_ right. When had it gotten this late? How had so much time passed without him noticing?

“See?” Kaoru appeared beside him, shaking his head, “Told you.”

“I apologize, Kaoru-dono. It seems that I have misjudged you, I will commit seppuku to atone for my mistakes,” Souma reached for his katana, and Kaoru hurriedly grabbed his arms to stop him. 

“Wait, no! You don’t have to go that far, it’s fine!” 

“Right, I’m sorry. Hasumi-dono had reminded me that I shouldn’t be so willing to commit seppuku over every mistake, but it seemed that I had forgotten. Sorry about that,” Souma uttered sheepishly, as Kaoru let go of his arms, “But even so, how are we supposed to go home? It appears to be snowing pretty heavily.”

“Ah, yeah, about that. I was planning on just staying at school for the night, so I was looking for a place to stay. Incidentally, I thought of the clubroom since it probably has heating and I won’t freeze to death, so here I am,” Kaoru shrugs.

“Hm, that does explain why you’re here then. However, it seems unpleasant to sleep here, especially on the floor,” Souma says thoughtfully. 

“Yeah, I didn’t think about that,” Kaoru huffs, “I guess we’ll have to think of another alternative.”

“What about the nap room? I’ve heard that they’ve made a nap room somewhere, and that place should be suitable enough to stay the night,” Souma suggested. 

“A nap room, huh? I’ve heard Anzu-chan mention it. I guess a nap room would be the ideal place to spend the night,” Kaoru agreed, “Well then, I suppose we should head there.” 

Without much fuss, the two left the Marine Bio Clubroom, heading towards the aforementioned nap room. At least this way, Kaoru can get a good night’s rest and not freeze to death, considering he wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor and there’d be heating. Kaoru decided to completely ignore how he would have to spend the night with Souma, though. It wasn’t like he was okay with the idea, or anything. He’d obviously much rather be spending the night with a girl, like Anzu. Obviously. Maybe. Maybe? He’d decided to not dwell on it further. After a while of walking, the two finally found the nap room, and as Souma searched for the light switch and flicked it on, Kaoru’s eyes darted towards the heater. There was a piece of paper stuck on it, and as Kaoru approached it, he felt dread filling him as he read the contents. 

‘Sorry, the heater is currently not working!’ was written on it, and Kaoru almost let out a cry. Gone was all his hopes of getting a decent night’s rest after UNDEAD’s relentless practice session. Seeing his senior standing still in front of the heater and not switching it on, Souma was perplexed and decided to see what was up. 

“Hakaze-dono? Is there something wrong?” Souma spoke, and Kaoru couldn’t muster the strength to do anything besides point at the piece of paper on the heater. Kaoru could see the younger boy’s mouth form an ‘o’, “I see. It would seem that the heater is broken.” 

“No shit,” Kaoru groaned, “Now what? Assuming none of us want to freeze to death tonight, we gotta think of something.” 

“In that case, maybe we could pile up the blankets provided?” Souma offered.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll still end up freezing. Those blankets are pretty thin,” Kaoru interjected.

“In that case, should we go to another clubroom then? It will probably have heating.”

“Good point, but that’d be intruding, and the doors are probably locked,” Well, except for the Light Music Clubroom, Kaoru’s mind added, but **_again_** , remembering how Wan-chan and Rei were probably there sent shivers down his spine. Yeah, he’d rather not. Freezing to death would probably be a better option. 

“If so, what should we do then?” Souma asked, and Kaoru could only shrug in response. 

The two spent a moment in silence, trying to figure out a way to prevent them from turning into idol popsicles overnight. After a while of thinking, Kaoru finally thought of something, but he wasn’t quite sure if he liked the idea. He silently glanced at Souma, and the latter seemed like he hadn’t figured anything out. Time was passing, it was only getting later and later, so if Kaoru wanted a wink of sleep, he figured that he had no other choice than to spit out his idea. Kaoru inhaled a sharp breath. _Well, here goes nothing…_

“Hey, Souma-kyun~? I think I’ve got an idea, so hear me out?” 

“Oh? Do tell, Hakaze-dono.” 

“W-well, considering the blankets here are too thin, and the heater isn’t working, we can maybe...Um…” 

“‘Um’? I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to understand what you’re trying to say.” 

“Ah, geez, seriously. Alright, w-what if we, uh, s-shared bo, body heat? You know, uh-wait, Souma-kyun-” Kaoru panicked as he saw Souma’s expression darkening. 

“What are you suggesting, disgrace?” he was back to calling Kaoru a disgrace now, “Depending on your answer, your blood might stain my blade.” 

“Ca-calm down! I wasn’t suggesting anything weird, I swear!” Kaoru flailed his arms around in an attempt to prevent Souma from murdering him right there and then, “I-I meant like, maybe we could simply sleep back-to-back, or something! We’d still get at least some body heat from that, right?” 

“Hmph. I see. I apologize for jumping to conclusions. If it is simply that, then I can accept that,” Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. 

“We, well! In the first place, I wouldn’t have been suggesting something else, you know. I’m not into men, after all, though it would be a different story if it were a beautiful g-” Kaoru was cut short by Souma sending a death glare at him. 

“Silence, disgrace. Another pointless word and I will end you,” Souma hissed, and Kaoru nervously laughed as he nodded silently. Boy, was that kid scary. 

The two then made their way towards one of the futons; conveniently enough, the futons provided were big enough to fit two people, so that wouldn’t be an issue. Grabbing a blanket and pillow from the neat pile in the corner of the room, Kaoru settled on the futon as he tried his best to get comfortable and not think about his current situation. He most definitely wasn’t nervous about having to share a futon with his annoying underclassman. Definitely not. Souma, on the other hand, was taking his time, carefully setting his katana on a nearby futon before undoing the ribbon tying his hair, letting his hair gently fall on his back, and Kaoru has to practically force himself to look away, because _fuck_ , that was pretty hot. 

Kaoru willed himself to force his eyes shut and to stop thinking about whatever he just witnessed. Heck, what was he thinking? He wasn’t into boys. He wasn’t. Sure, Souma might have beautiful long hair, but at the end of the day, he was a boy. Wake up, Kaoru ( Though actually, in this situation, falling asleep would be the ideal thing to happen.) As he heard the sound of fabric rustling, he briefly wondered just why was he suddenly so nervous. Before he even got the time to figure that out, he felt Souma’s back against his. There was something comforting in the feeling of someone else’s warmth. Well, there’s also the possibility that Kaoru was probably just touch-starved, but he’d started feeling a lot warmer. He was trying to convince himself that he was just imagining it, but he knows that his face is definitely burning up, for one reason or another. 

Souma seemed to have fallen asleep rather quickly, which wasn’t surprising. Kaoru had heard stories of Souma sleeping while standing or sitting, so it seems like the latter falls asleep rather easily. Letting out a silent sigh, Kaoru wills himself to sleep. However, that doesn’t go well, as his seemingly racing heart wasn’t going to let him, it seems. In spite of all the exhaustion he felt from practice, he just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. At this point, the blonde haired boy was starting to have a hard time denying that the cause of his current predicament was, in fact, Souma. To be fair, Kaoru had simply never considered it before. Just the thought that his underclassman who constantly tries to cut him in half would cause him to stay awake was laughable. Well, considering his current circumstances, Kaoru supposed he can only laugh bitterly. 

Just as he was trying to force himself to sleep, he felt Souma shift. Startled, the third year almost jumped out, but stiffened at the thought of accidentally waking the younger boy up. Fortunately for Kaoru, Souma stopped shifting soon, but Kaoru wanted to at least make sure that nothing was wrong. Impulsively, he glanced back to check at the other boy and as result, he nearly passed out, as the first thing that greeted him upon turning around was Souma’s face. Fainting on the spot would’ve made Kaoru’s life a whole lot easier, but here he was, blankly staring at his aforementioned underclassman. He was taken aback by how beautiful Souma looked--especially when he wasn’t actively trying to kill him--and just kept on staring, enthralled. 

_Haha, that’s funny. What are you doing, Kaoru? Get yourself together, damn it,_ Kaoru’s mind was screaming at him to stop, but honestly, how could he? The sight of Souma’s serene sleeping face which looked utterly breathtaking despite a few strands of hair slightly covering parts of it. His mouth was slightly agape, and Kaoru could hear his gentle yet steady breathing (he was honestly surprised that he could hear it despite the increasingly loud beating of his own heart.) 

_Ah, damn_ , he internally cursed, as he found himself fully facing Souma, unaware of when or how he managed to move to that position within such a short amount of time. Moreover, now that he’s fully facing Souma, he’s made aware of the close proximity between their faces. They’re so close; Kaoru can almost, _almost_ , feel Souma’s breath. He didn’t want to admit it, but it’s painfully obvious how the rapid beating of his traitorous heart and the heat creeping up on his face was definitely caused by Souma. There was virtually no way of denying it at this point. Seriously, Kaoru was at a loss here. 

Biting back a sigh, Kaoru’s hands wandered to the stray strands of hair on Souma’s face. Silently brushing them away, his breath hitches as he once again admires the other’s captivating appearance. He’d already looked breathtaking even with his hair covering his face, so Kaoru should’ve anticipated that he’d look a lot better without it. Normally, at this point Kaoru would probably stop there before turning back to sleep and act as if nothing ever happened. However, it was late at night, and the drowsiness was finally starting to catch up with him. Kaoru didn’t have much control over his actions nor his thoughts at this point, and so as he gently tucks the stray strands behind Souma’s ear, all he could think of was how nice and smooth Souma’s hair was, before he finally felt his eyelids drop. 

\---

A pleasant scent greeted Kaoru the moment he awoke. Such a pleasant scent can only be from someone who carefully washes their hair every day, probably a neat Japanese, black-haired beaut- wait a minute. Kaoru has smelled this scent before, and a part of him tells him that it wasn’t from a woman. Surely enough, as he opened his eyes he was greeted by long, dark-purple colored hair, which definitely wasn’t from a woman. Kaoru was about to scream, but restrained himself upon catching a glimpse of Souma’s katana behind the still-sleeping boy. Of course, his instinct told him that the next thing he should do was to just get up and leave, but that was an impossible task considering the...compromising position they were in. 

At some point, Kaoru had ended up tangling a hand in Souma’s undeniably _perfect_ hair, and the other was wrapped around the younger’s waist. Meanwhile Souma had somehow managed to wrap both hands around Kaoru’s waist, head buried in the UNDEAD member’s chest . Upon realizing this fact, Kaoru could feel his face heat up, possibly hotter than it had the previous night. _No, no, get a grip, damn it! Why the hell are you getting so flustered about accidentally cuddling a guy?! It’s a completely natural thing to do. It was cold, and you were just looking for warmth, that's all!_ Kaoru could feel his inner voice frantically trying to convince himself that this was normal, but once again his rapid heartbeat betrayed him. Shit, accidentally cuddling Souma wasn’t supposed to make him this nervous. To make matters worse, they’d somehow gotten their legs tangled, so it’d be hard for Kaoru to escape even if he wanted to. 

Struggling to ignore his racing heart, Kaoru fixated his gaze on Souma’s hair (which, in hindsight, might have not been the best idea) as he slowly moved his hand that was buried in the latter’s hair. Why the hell was Souma’s hair so soft? Kaoru’s objective here was to untangle his hand from Souma’s hair, but a part of him wanted to just let his hand stay there forever. It was an odd feeling to have, but Kaoru decided to not question it. Gently pulling his hand out, Kaoru flinched as he felt Souma shift, but luckily, the latter wasn’t awake yet. Letting out a sigh of relief, Kaoru averted his gaze towards Souma’s face--which had previously been buried in his chest, yeah--the latter had looked breathtaking the night before, and if it was possible for him to look a lot more breathtaking illuminated by the rays of sunlight peeking through the thin curtains. Mindlessly, Kaoru’s hand reached up to caress the younger’s cheek. Fuck, he really was beautiful, and Kaoru couldn’t even deny that anymore. 

On one winter morning, Hakaze Kaoru found himself undeniably captivated by Kanzaki Souma. 

Maybe he wasn’t as straight as he thought he was. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading it this far~ I've actually thought of a continuation for this one-shot, so I might write that soon. I'll make sure to drop the link here whenever I publish it! Kudos, comments, bookmarks, and such are appreciated! Thank you for dropping by~


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